DNA Results

  So the nursery rhyme below dating from the early 19th century 
  says that little boys are made of snips, snails & puppy dog tails !
  Well i decided to really find out,  by having my DNA tested !

 What are little boys made of ?

 What are little boys made of ?

 Snips, snails

 and puppy-dogs' tails

 That's what little boys are made of

 What are little girls made of ?

 What are little girls made of ?

 Sugar and spice

 and all things nice

 That's what little girls are made of.

In 2018 I sent my DNA results off to be analysed with AncestryDNA to provide answers to the origins of where we came from.

The AncestryDNA test uses microarray-based autosomal DNA testing, which surveys a person's entire genome at over 700,000 locations. The test results also provide information that's more relevant and recent targeting our family history, down to a few hundred or even a thousand years ago, as compared to the Y-chromosome or mitochondrial DNA tests, which have a 10,000 to 50,000 year time focus. It covers both the maternal and paternal sides of the family tree, so it covers all lineages. The results show the DNA I have inherited from all sides of my family, so from my father's and my mother's sides of the family tree.

Our family being  firmly based in the East Midlands  (formally a part of Danelaw Britain)  it's perhaps no surprise to see some Scottish and  Scandinavian DNA.  My top percentage was for England and North Western Europe at 88%.  Specifically  our local area - The Midlands, but this area  (or Mercia as it was known) was under Danelaw for many years.

While my DNA does not change, the way Ancestry analyse & report on it changes year on year but below are the ethnicity estimate in 2020.

The Viking Saga

Between 1 and 800 A.D. the Norse people of Scandinavia developed a runic alphabet, sailed to Europe, fought as mercenaries, and traded iron, fish, furs, and skins across the North Sea. They believed in many gods including Thor, Odin and Loki and interpreted the world around them in mythological terms.

Norse exploration and trade reached its peak between 793 and 1066 A.D. during the Viking Age. Vikings were known for their seamanship, and the Viking-era longship was an engineering marvel of its day. It was quick, narrow, and light, darting through shallow or deep water, powered by oar or sail. From Scandinavia, Vikings sailed the rivers of Europe and the oceans east and west from the Baltic to Byzantium. They settled in Greenland, Iceland, Vinland in North America and across Europe.

In 851 Norwegian and Danish Vikings began settling on the coast of northern France. In 911 the French king granted them control of their own territory on the condition that they help protect France from additional Viking raids. The region became known as Normandy, named for the Viking “North Men” who lived there. Norwegian Vikings also colonised northern Scotland, the Orkneys, the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland during the 9th and 10th centuries. The Vikings had a huge influence on Scotland, particularly the coastal areas, the dialects of Orkney and Shetland are peppered with Norse names. The Norse language of Shetland only died out around 1800.

While Swedish Vikings became intimidating merchants on the rivers and seas of eastern Europe, the Norwegians and the Danes tended to head west. Danish Vikings invaded and settled northern and eastern England and managed to control a third of Britain (the Danelaw) for nearly 80 years.

The Scandinavian Great Heathen Army (Old English: mycel hæþen here), invaded England in 865 AD. The Vikings had previously engaged in raids on centres of wealth such as monasteries in small and mobile numbers. The Great Heathen Army was much larger and aimed to occupy and conquer the four English kingdoms of East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex. Surviving sources give no firm indication of its numbers, but it was amongst the largest forces of its kind.

The name Great Heathen Army is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 865. Legend has it that the force was led by four of the five sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, including Hvitserk, Ivar the Boneless, Bjorn Ironside and possibly Ubba.  The campaign of invasion and conquest against the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms lasted 14 years.  The Tale of Ragnar's Sons says that the invasion of England by the Great Heathen Army was aimed at avenging the death of Ragnar Lodbrok, a legendary Viking ruler of Sweden and Denmark. In the Viking saga, Ragnar is said to have conducted a raid on Northumbria during the reign of King Ælla. The Vikings were defeated and Ragnar was captured by the Northumbrians. Ælla then had Ragnar executed by throwing him into a pit of venomous snakes. When the sons of Ragnar received news of their father's death, they decided to avenge him.

The invaders initially landed in East Anglia, where the king provided them with horses for their campaign in return for peace. They spent the winter of 865–66 at Thetford, before marching north to capture York in November 866. York had been founded as the Roman legionary fortress of Eboracum and revived as the Anglo-Saxon trading port of Eoforwic.

During 867, the army marched deep into Mercia and wintered in Nottingham. The Mercians agreed to terms with the Viking army, which moved back to York for the winter of 868–69. In 869, the Great Army returned to East Anglia, conquering it and killing its king. The army moved to winter quarters in Thetford.

In 871, the Vikings moved on to Wessex, where Alfred the Great paid them to leave. The army then marched to London to overwinter in 871–2. The following campaigning season the army first moved to York, where it gathered reinforcements. This force campaigned in northeastern Mercia, after which it spent the winter at Torksey, on the Trent close to the Humber. The following campaigning season it seems to have subdued much of Mercia. Burgred, the king of Mercia, fled overseas and Coelwulf, described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as 'a foolish king's thegn' was imposed in his place. The army spent the following winter at Repton on the middle Trent, after which the army seems to have divided. One group seems to have returned to Northumbria, where they settled in the area, while another group seems to have turned to invade Wessex.

In 876 the vikings after fighting Alfred of Wessex had retreated to the walled city of Exeter, they then retreated to Gloucester in southern Mercia. In May of 878 Alfred the Great defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Edington, and a treaty was agreed whereby the Vikings were able to remain in control of much of northern and eastern England, this included the eastern part of Mercia.  Locally Danish settlement was highest  in the towns of Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln, Leicester and Stanford, these were known as the five boroughs. The Danish prince Cnut the Great became the king of England from 1016 to 1035, also ruling Denmark and parts of Norway and Sweden.

* data and images from AncestryDNA
  and extracts from Wikipedia &  'North Men. The Viking Saga 793-1241'